The present invention relates generally to dunnage air bags, and more particularly to a new and improved inflation nozzle fixture or assembly for inflating the inflatable bladder disposed interiorly of the dunnage air bag in connection with the use of the dunnage air bag for securing or bracing cargo within the holds of, for example, railroad cars, airplanes, ships, truck trailers, and the like.
Cargo or dunnage air bags are used in the cargo shipment or transportation industry as a means for readily and easily securing or bracing cargo within the holds of, for example, railroad cars, ships, airplanes, truck trailers, and the like. Such dunnage or cargo air bags conventionally comprise an inflatable bladder which is enclosed within an outer bag or envelope fabricated from a plurality of paper plies. The air bags are conventionally of such construction and size as to readily enable the same to be inserted into voids or spaces defined between spaced loads, or between a particular cargo load and a side or end wall of the cargo container or hold, whereupon inflation of the air bag, the air bag will expand thereby fixedly engaging the adjacent cargo loads or the cargo load and container wall so as to secure the cargo loads against undesirable movement during transit. Obviously, in order to achieve the inflation of the cargo or dunnage air bags to a predetermined pressurized level, such air bags are also conventionally provided with an inflation valve which permits compressed or pressurized air to be conducted into the interior portion of the inflatable bladder. Typically, the inflation valve comprises a tubular valve body having a flange portion integrally fixed thereto. The flange portion is welded or heat-sealed to an interior wall portion of the inflatable bladder so as to form an air-tight seal therewith, whereas the tubular valve body projects outwardly from the air bag so as to be externally accessible for fluidic communication with a suitable air inflation fixture or assembly by means of which the compressed or pressurized air can be conducted into the interior portion of the inflatable bladder. The inflation valve also comprises a valve stem which is mounted within the tubular valve body and is movable between CLOSED and OPEN states. The valve stem is normally spring-biased toward the CLOSED state but is able to be moved to the OPEN state against the spring-biasing force by means of the air inflation fixture or assembly.
A conventional or PRIOR ART inflation nozzle or fixture, for enabling the inflation of an inflatable bladder of a cargo air bag, is disclosed within U.S. Pat. No. 5,042,541 which issued to Krier et al. on Aug. 27, 1991, however, as can be readily appreciated from FIG. 1, which corrresponds substantially to FIG. 3 of the aforenoted patent, the inflation nozzle or fixture of Krier et al. comprises a relatively large number of operative components and is relatively difficult to manipulate. More particularly, the inflation nozzle or fixture 14 is seen to comprise a tubular body portion 24 which is adapted to be threadedly connected to a hose 16 which, in turn, is adapted to be fluidically connected to a source of compressed air, not shown, wherein the tubular body portion 24 comprises an air inlet portion 34 and an air outlet portion 36 which is formed by means of a tubular nozzle tip 42. A handle 26 is pivotally mounted upon the tubular body portion 24 by means of a pivot pin 28, and a coil spring 30 is interposed between the handle 26 and the tubular body portion 24 so as to normally bias the handle 26 toward a position at which the forward end 32 of the handle 26 is moved toward the air outlet 36 of the tubular body portion 24. The forward end 32 of the handle 26 also comprises a recessed or cut-out region or portion 44 which is bounded by side walls or guides 46, and a closure plate 48 is adapted to slide over the recessed portion 44 so as to normally cover the air outlet 36. The closure plate 48 is movably mounted within the handle 26 by means of a pin and slot mechanism 50,52, and a coil spring 54 normally biases the closure plate 48 toward the forward end 32 of the handle 26.
The air bag inflation valve 12 comprises a tubular valve body 56 which extends through the wall 58 of the air bag 10, and an annular flange 60 which is sealed to the interior wall portion of the plastic bladder 62. An annular valve seat 64 is disposed interiorly of the bladder 62, and the tubular valve body 56 projects outwardly from the air bag 10 such that a first annular edge portion 66 of the valve body 56 engages an outer surface portion of the air bag 10 so as to cooperate with the flange portion 60 in securing the inflation valve 12 upon the air bag 10. The inflation valve 12 further comprises an axially movable valve stem 70 which includes an annular closure plate 72 comprising an annular ridge portion 74 for cooperating with the annular valve seat 64. A coil spring 76 normally biases the valve stem 70 to its CLOSED position at which the annular ridge portion 74 is engaged with the valve seat 64, while alternatively, the valve stem 70 is movable to its OPENED position, against the biasing force of the coil spring 76, when the nozzle tip 42 engages the end 78 of the valve stem 70 which is disposed opposite the closure plate 72.
In use, an operator grasps the inflation fixture or mechanism 14 and upon squeezing the handle 26, the handle 26 will pivot around pivot pin 28 such that the forward end 32 of the handle 26 and the closure plate 48 will move away from the nozzle tip 42. The inflation nozzle 14 is then slid or moved upwardly and transversely with respect to the axis of the inflation valve 12 such that the free end 80 of the valve body 56 moves past the nozzle tip 42, effectively enters the recessed portion or cut-out region 44 of the handle 26, and engages the closure plate 48 of the handle 26 so as to move the same downwardly against the biasing force of the spring 54 while the side walls 46 of the handle 26 are secured behind a second annular edge portion 68 of the valve body 56. Upon release of the hand pressure of the operator which initially achieved squeezing of the handle 26, spring 30 effectively causes the main body 24 to pivot away from the handle 26 whereby the nozzle tip 42 engages the end 78 of the valve stem 70 so as to move the valve stem 70 to its OPENED position against the biasing force of spring 76. Inflation of the air bag 10 can then be achieved.
While the aforenoted and briefly described inflation fixture or assembly 14 is operatively viable and reliable, and has accordingly been commercially successful, it is relatively costly to manufacture due to the relatively large number of component parts. In addition, it is noted that the operative mating of the inflation fixture or assembly 14 with the air bag inflation valve 12 is sometimes relatively difficult to achieve because there is no positional limit or stop effectively positioning the free end portion 80 of the valve body 56 at the proper position with respect to the nozzle tip 42 so as to permit the nozzle tip 42 to freely enter the free end portion 80 of the valve body 56 and thereby engage the end portion 78 of the valve stem 70. If the nozzle tip 42 is not properly coaxially aligned with the free end portion 80 of the valve body 56, then a peripheral portion of the nozzle tip 42 will engage a peripheral portion of the free end portion 80 of the valve body 56, the nozzle tip 42 will not be properly positioned within the free end portion 80 of the valve body 56 so as to properly engage the end portion 78 of the valve stem 70, and just as importantly, the inflation fixture or assembly 14 will not be securely seated or affixed upon the valve body 56 whereby proper inflation of the airbag will not be able to be readily achieved.
A need therefore exists in the art for a new and improved airbag inflation nozzle fixture or assembly which not only comprises a relatively small number of component parts so as to render the same relatively inexpensive to manufacture and relatively easy to manipulate and use, but in addition, the new and improved airbag inflation nozzle fixture or assembly will have improved structure integrally incorporated therein for automatically and consistently positionally locating the valve body within or relative to the airbag inflation nozzle fixture or assembly when the inflation nozzle fixture or assembly and the valve body are operatively engaged with each other so as to always ensure the coaxial alignment of the nozzle tip with the valve body, and for causing the nozzle tip of the inflation nozzle fixture or assembly to be lockingly engaged with the valve body so as to in turn cause the nozzle tip to engage the free end portion of the valve stem whereby the inflation valve can be disposed in its OPENED state.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved airbag inflation nozzle fixture or assembly.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a new and improved airbag inflation nozzle fixture or assembly which overcomes the various economic and operational drawbacks and disadvantages characteristic of PRIOR ART airbag inflation nozzle fixtures or assemblies.
An additional object of the present invention is to provide a new and improved airbag inflation nozzle fixture or assembly which comprises a relatively small number of operational components so as to render the airbag inflation nozzle fixture or assembly relatively inexpensive to manufacture and relatively easy to manipulate and use.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a new and improved airbag inflation nozzle fixture or assembly which will have improved structure integrally incorporated therein for automatically and consistently positionally locating the valve body within or relative to the airbag inflation nozzle fixture or assembly when the inflation nozzle fixture or assembly and the valve body are operatively engaged with each other so as to always ensure the coaxial alignment of the nozzle tip with the valve body.
A last object of the present invention is to provide a new and improved airbag inflation nozzle fixture or assembly which will have improved structure integrally incorporated therein for automatically and consistently positionally locating the valve body within or relative to the airbag inflation nozzle fixture or assembly when the inflation nozzle fixture or assembly and the valve body are operatively engaged with each other so as to always ensure the coaxial alignment of the nozzle tip with the valve body, and for causing the nozzle tip of the inflation nozzle fixture or assembly to be lockingly engaged with the valve body so as to in turn cause the nozzle tip to engage the free end portion of the valve stem whereby the inflation valve can be disposed in its OPENED state.
The foregoing and other objectives are achieved in accordance with the teachings and principles of the present invention through the provision of a new and improved airbag inflation nozzle fixture or assembly which comprises an inflation nozzle housing within which an airbag inflation nozzle member is pivotally mounted. The inflation nozzle housing comprises a pair of oppositely disposed side walls and an end wall integrally interconnecting the pair of side walls, and a substantially U-shaped track and rail structure is integrally provided upon the lowermost portions of the side walls and end wall so as to permit an annular edge or flanged portion of an airbag inflation valve body to effectively move therealong when the inflation nozzle housing is being mounted upon the inflation valve body. The inflation nozzle member comprises an inflation nozzle tip, and the end wall of the inflation nozzle housing serves as a stop member for limiting the relative movement of the inflation valve body into the inflation nozzle housing so as to always ensure proper coaxial alignment of the inflation nozzle tip and the inflation valve body, an inflation valve stem being axially movable within the inflation valve body between OPENED and CLOSED positions. The inflation nozzle housing is further provided with a camming lock button which is movable in a transverse direction, with respect to the axes of the inflation nozzle tip and the inflation valve body, between UNLOCKED and LOCKED positions. Accordingly, when the inflation nozzle housing is mounted upon the inflation valve body such that the inflation valve body is effectively fully inserted within the inflation nozzle housing at its proper, coaxially aligned position with respect to the inflation nozzle tip, the camming lock button is moved from its UNLOCKED position to its LOCKED position at which position the camming lock button engages the inflation nozzle member so as to pivot the same slightly and forcefully insert the inflation nozzle tip into the inflation valve body and thereby engage the inflation valve stem whereby the inflation valve stem is moved to its OPENED position. The inflation nozzle assembly, comprising the inflation nozzle housing and the inflation nozzle member, is now disposed in a LOCKED position upon the inflation valve body whereby inflation of the airbag can be readily, easily, and properly achieved.